Dataset Information

Identifying differences in gait adaptability across various speeds using movement synergy analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The aim of this study was to identify movement synergies during normal-walking that can differentiate healthy adults in terms of gait adaptability at various speeds. To this end, the association between movement synergies and lower-limb coordination variability or Deviation Phase (DP) was investigated. This study also investigated the moderating effect of movement synergies on the relationship between DP and the smoothness of arm-swing motion (NJI).

Method

A principal component analysis of whole-body marker trajectories from normal-walking treadmill trials at 0.8m/s, 1.2m/s and 1.6m/s was undertaken. Both DP and NJI were derived from approx. 8 minutes of perturbed-walking treadmill trials. Principal movement components, PMk, were derived and the RMS of the 2nd-order differentiation of these PMk (PAkRMS) were included as independent variables representing the magnitude of neuromuscular control in each PMk. Each PAkRMS were input into maximal linear mixed-effects models against DP and (DP x NJI) respectively. A stepwise elimination of terms and comparison of models using Anova identified optimal models for both aims.

Results

The principal movement related to the push-off mechanism of gait (PA4RMS) was identified as an optimal model and demonstrated a significant negative effect on DP however this effect may differ considerably across walking-speeds. An optimal model for describing the variance in (DP x NJI) included a fixed-effect of PA6RMS representing Right-Left side weight transfer was identified.

Interpretation

The hypotheses that individuals who exhibited greater control on specific kinematic synergies would exhibit variations during perturbed walking was substantiated. Supporting evidence for the role of movement synergies during the double-support phase of gait in proactively correcting balance was presented as well as the potential for this approach in targeted rehabilitation. The potential influence of leg dominance on gait adaptability was also discussed. Future studies should investigate further the role of walking-speed and leg dominance on movement synergies and look to generalize these findings to patient populations.

SUBMITTER: O'Reilly D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7790368 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Identifying differences in gait adaptability across various speeds using movement synergy analysis.

Ó'Reilly David D Federolf Peter P

PloS one 20210107 1

<h4>Introduction</h4>The aim of this study was to identify movement synergies during normal-walking that can differentiate healthy adults in terms of gait adaptability at various speeds. To this end, the association between movement synergies and lower-limb coordination variability or Deviation Phase (DP) was investigated. This study also investigated the moderating effect of movement synergies on the relationship between DP and the smoothness of arm-swing motion (NJI).<h4>Method</h4>A principal ...[more]

PMID: 33411749

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Project description:Understanding the reorganization of the central nervous system after stroke is an important endeavor in order to design new therapies in gait training for stroke patients. Current clinical evaluation scores and gait velocity are insufficient to describe the state of the nervous system, and one aspect where this is lacking is in the quantification of gait symmetry. Previous studies have pointed out that spatiotemporal gait asymmetries are commonly observed in stroke patients with hemiparesis. Such asymmetries are known to cause long-term complications like joint pain and deformation. Recent studies also indicate that spatiotemporal measures showed that gait symmetry worsens after discharge from therapy. This study shows that muscle synergy analysis can be used to quantify gait symmetry and compliment clinical measures. Surface EMG was collected from lower limb muscles of subacute post-stroke patients (with an onset of around 14 days) from two groups, one undergoing robotic-assisted therapy (known as HAL group) and the other undergoing conventional therapy (known as Control group). Muscle synergies from the paretic and non-paretic limb were extracted with Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NNMF) and compared with each other to obtain a gait symmetry index over therapy sessions. Gait events were tracked with motion tracking (for the HAL group) or foot pressure sensors (for the conventional therapy group). Patients from both groups were assessed over a 3-weeks long gait training program. Results indicated that there were no differences in muscle synergy symmetry for both groups of patients. However, the timing of muscle synergies were observed to be symmetrical in the HAL group, but not for the Control group. Intergroup comparisons of symmetry in muscle synergies and their timings were not significantly different. This could be due to a large variability in recovery in the Control group. Finally, stance time ratio was not observed to improve in both groups after their respective therapies. Interestingly, FIM and FMA scores of both groups were observed to improve after their respective therapies. Analysis of muscle coordination could reveal mechanisms of gait symmetry which could otherwise be difficult to observe with clinical scores.

Dataset Information

Identifying differences in gait adaptability across various speeds using movement synergy analysis.

Introduction

Method

Results

Interpretation

Publications

Identifying differences in gait adaptability across various speeds using movement synergy analysis.

Similar Datasets

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